Luke 7:37-46, Love Hopes All Things

Ø Introduction: Consider these two situations.

o   When we lived in SE Colorado a woman from Kansas came to me one night.  She was out of control, loudly proclaiming “It’s all over.  This is it.  It’s the bid ‘d’.” It was a marriage problem; alcohol was involved; it seemed overwhelmingly hopeless.  And yet, to this day, they are still married.

o   We have known, over the years, several parents with children born with severe physical issues.  In many cases these issues led to the early death of these children.  For others they lived with severe challenges.  And yet the parents had a deep love for their children.

LOVE HOPES ALL THINGS

1)   Definitions:

1.   Hope:

a.   Basic term for hope: elpizw.

i.     The form of the verb indicates the CHARACTER OF THE PERSON more than the character of action. 

ii.    I.e. they are godly optimists.

b.   Commentary:

i.     Morris: a refusal to take failure as final.

ii.    Redpath: When love is disappointed in the one in whom it trusted, it will yet hope for better things, although others may long have ceased to do so.

2.   All things:

a.   All situations..

b.   Barnes: extends to all things -- to words, actions and plans; to public and to private intercourse; to what is said and done in our own presence and to what is said and done in our absence.

c.   Note illustrations....how Jesus did not treat dead-end people (tax collectors, prostitutes) with a dead-end attitude.

3.   HOW CAN THIS BE?

a.   Because our hope is in God!!! (Note in each of these passages that hope has the sense of trust and some translations translate the Greek elpizo as trust instead of hope.) 

i.     1 Tim 4:10:

ii.    1 Tim 5:5:  

iii.   1Tim 6:17:  

b.   Bec Jesus is raised from the dead!!!

i.     1 Peter 1:3,20-21:

c.   It is NOT hope in self or the great spirit of mankind!  What two things go together in the lives of those who do not believe in Christ?

i.     Eph 2:12:

2)   Illustrations:

To whom did Jesus show this kind of love?

a)   Luke 7:37-46:

b)   Luke 19:4-10:

c)   John 8:1-11:

3)   Biblical principles:

a)   Rom 8:24; 1 Tim 4:10: What is it about God that encourages us to place our hope in Him?

b)   Jeremiah 34: There are two situations in this chapter in which Jeremiah gives encouragements that are rejected?

 

c)   1 Cor 13:13; Col 1:3-5: Hope is a fundamental virtue.  How do these passages demonstrate this?

Application:

d)   Meditate on your own salvation in Christ.

i)     Your hopelessness.

ii)    His resurrection!

e)   PRAYER WILL BE BASIC TO THE LIFE OF AN OPTIMIST!